Cross country: Benet takes ESCC boys, girls titles
They were spinning out of the turn at the East Suburban Catholic Conference boys and girls conference meet Saturday. That's because instead of the meet being competed at traditional cross country venues like a park or a forest preserve, this one was at Arlington International Race Course.
"We had an opportunity to have the meet here and the people at Arlington were extremely accommodating," St. Viator athletic director Jason Kuffel said. "They put on an A-plus production for our student-athletes, coaches and parents."
It was the first time Arlington International had ever hosted a cross country meet according to Tom Musielak, who has worked at Arlington for 35 years and is the turf course superintendent.
The course was originally designed to be run on the inner park of the track. But the rain this week forced it in to the actual turf course. Runners went three laps with the first being 1⅛ miles, the second 1 mile and the third ⅞ of a mile.
Benet won both the boys and the girls meets.
For the boys, Benet scored 29 points to easily outdistance Marist, which was second with 85 points. St. Viator was fourth with 113 points and Carmel was fifth with 149 points.
Benet's boys were led by Connor O'Keefe, who finished first in a time of 15:54.1.
"It felt really fast," O'Keefe said. "The course was a little muddy on the inside. It was weird to run on a horse track, but honestly it felt like running on a track."
O'Keefe and Benet got support from Ben Grundman (4th), Dominic Adams (6th), Jack Robinson (7th) and Will Forman (11th).
"I thought we did very well," Benet coach Kevin Renicker said. "This was a big win for Connor. He opened it up at the end where he needed to."
Benet's girls also were easy winners. The Redwings scored 26 points to finished ahead of St. Viator's 69 points. Carmel was fourth with 81 points.
Benet's Emily Spellman, who is a sophomore, finished second with a time of 18:51.5.
"The course was better than I expected it to be," Spellman said. "It was a nice day to run."
Spellman got help from Joy Jackson (3rd), Mae Tully (4th), Meaghan Andrews (6th) and Amelia Parisi (11th).
"We were OK," Benet coach Scott Brooks said. "Times were not great today, but the course was a little mushy."
St. Viator's Katie Castelli was the conference champion with a time of 18:36.6.
"It was pretty good out there but a little cold," said Castelli, who is sophomore. "It was pretty flat, but I felt good out there."
Castelli was joined by Payton McDonnell (8th), Joy Bergstrom (17th), Mary Grace Hegberg (20th) and Maura Hogaboom (23rd). Viator was able to break a tie for second with Marist thanks to sixth place finisher Claire Bottcher.
"Katie went right to the lead and kept expanding it throughout," St. Viator coach Wayne Edelman said. "She looked very strong at the end."
On the boys' side Patric Natindim was eighth for the Lions. Mike Schumacher (14th), Patrick Schumacher (25th), Matt Goss (30th) and Richard Varvara (36th) also placed.
Carmel's girls were paced by seventh-place finisher Ezzie Posner. Brigid Hull (13th), Isabel Ashley (15th), Abigail Kuderna (18th) and Maddie Ives (28th) all had their scores count.
The Carmel boys, who were eighth a year ago, made a significant step with their fifth-place finish. They were led by Alexander Speer, who finished 10th. Other top finishers included Jack Bartz (28th), Evan Ashley (31st), Alex Miller (39th) and Zach Young (41st).
"We had four girls in the top 17, so I was really happy with that," Carmel coach Jim Halford said. "And the boys are coming back, which is good."